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Twenty four companies put their best face forward for investors at Y Combinator's ninth Demo Day for start-ups completing its incubator program.
The program is known for launching Web start-ups on a shoestring; it takes place twice a year and provides companies with $10,000 to $20,000 in exchange for a small equity stake. Perhaps more important than the money, though, are the networking and learning opportunities - the program provides start-ups with advice, community with other founders and weekly dinners with prominent tech entrepreneurs and investors.
For young entrepreneurs, the experience of talking to those who have built companies is invaluable.
"Many share their stories of real struggles, low points and screw-ups and show they're real people. That makes building a company seem more accessible," said Jake Mintz, a co-founder of Y Combinator graduate Bump Technologies Inc. "The most common question to speakers is probably, 'Tell us your lowest point.'"
While Mintz didn't remember the lowest point for Digg founder Kevin Rose or investor Guy Kawasaki, seeing those tech luminaries as real people made a big impact.
"The dinners for me were cool to get to meet Kevin Rose and Guy Kawasaki," said Gee Chuang, co-founder of Listia Inc., another start-up. "You see them as celebrities in a way. One thing I noticed throughout the week is you have highs and lows but you come to these dinners and get a big motivation boost."
Investors from top firms in Silicon Valley - such as Venrock, First Round Capital, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Founders Fund, Trinity Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and US Venture Partners - showed up to see the pitches at demo day. Here are just a few of the companies that presented.
Bump Technologies provides an iPhone application for people to send their contact information to each other by bumping their phones together. Both people participating have to have the application for it to work. The company already has more than two million downloads and has been featured on Apple's television commercial.
FlightCaster Inc. is a service that predicts the probability of flight delays up to six hours before airlines notify passengers. The company, which has a Web site and mobile application, uses data from a flight's prior inbound airplane, weather data and other information to predict whether a flight will be late.
Another company, Listia, is essentially a marketplace for free junk. People can list items that they don't want that are not totally worthless but also aren't valuable enough to sell on eBay. The company plans to move beyond free items and allow actual selling of items.
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